NORTHERN BANK(EX), GATES, RAILINGS AND WALLING

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay two-storey over basement rendered former Northern Bank, built c.1925, possibly incorporating part (?railings) of earlier pre 1859 building (also a bank) on the site. T-shaped on plan facing northwest and set back on the southeast side of Shore Street.

Hipped natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and three profiled red brick chimneystacks rising from side and rear elevations, rebuilt c.2011. Moulded cast-iron guttering set on overhanging timber sheeted eaves with cast-iron downpipes. Painted cement rendered walling with decorative red brick frieze below eaves having rendered panels with red sandstone discs and flush red sandstone ashlar fascia to front only. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and single-pane timber sliding sash windows with margin lights and slender ogee horns.

Three-bay two-storey over basement front elevation with central door opening and rectangular oriel window to the right. Original tripartite window to the left at ground floor level with sliding timber sash windows and applied moulded surround (c.2000). The oriel window has a flat roof behind cornice and replacement top-hung timber casement windows with margin lights. Square-headed door opening set within sandstone ashlar doorcase having hood cornice and raised-and-fielded hardwood panelled door with iron overlight. Door opens onto concrete paved platform and five steps enclosed by original iron railings.

Northeast side elevation has a three-sided canted bay window to the left (ground floor) and a single window to the first floor, all having original timber sliding sash windows. Detailing below eaves repeats. A screen wall abuts this elevation.

Rear elevation abutted by four-storey gabled return having painted rendered walling and single-pane sliding timber sash windows with ogee horns. The partially exposed rear elevation has a single window to the ground floor (glazed as above) and paired window openings at basement and first floor levels with single-pane sliding timber sash windows.

Southwest side elevation has a single window opening at ground and first floor levels.

Setting:
Occupying its own site and set back slightly on the southeast side of Shore Street. Concrete paved sloping basement area enclosed by painted rendered wall with decorative cast-iron railings with matching pair of pedestrian gates hug on piers. Small rear yard enclosed to the south by tall rubblestone wall and to the rear by a single-storey rendered former outbuilding.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted render
Windows Timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 3 Shore Street, a two-storey-over-basement former bank building, was originally constructed prior to 1859 as a private dwelling. The dwelling was converted into a branch of the Northern Banking Co. in c. 1873, however the building was reconstructed following a fire in 1922 which destroyed the original structure. The original building on the site was first recorded in Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which noted that the house was valued at £20 and was leased to a Mr. Peter Stone by Anne McDonnell of Kilmore House (HB05/01/012). Stone continued to reside at the private dwelling at No. 3 Shore Street until c. 1873 when the building was acquired by the Northern Banking Co. Ltd. and converted into the village’s branch bank.

The Northern Banking Company was one of the oldest banks in Ireland, having been established in Belfast in 1809 as the Northern Banking Partnership. The establishment of a branch bank in Cushendall reflected the commercial development of the village which had grown from a minor settlement into a popular seaside resort following the construction of the Coastal Road in 1832-42. The branch bank at No. 3 Shore Street consisted of the bank premises and a dwelling for the branch manager, the first of which was a Mr. Hugh Kirkpatrick. The Census of Ireland notes that the bank was occupied by a Mr. James Park Cinnamond in 1901. The accompanying census building return described the branch bank as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a stable, a piggery and a barn amongst its rear outbuildings. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Cushendall (1903) depicted No. 3 Shore Street as a rectangular-shaped building that possessed a rear return. The Irish Builder records that the Northern Bank underwent an alteration and was extended in 1914 to designs by Thomas J. O’Neill (c. 1867-1936), a Ballycastle-based engineer and architect who was assistant county surveyor for Co. Antrim (Irish Builder, p. 666; DIA).

The original bank on the site was burned to the ground by a fire that was accidentally started during a robbery of the building in 1922. The bank was rebuilt in c. 1925 with the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim (1972) noting that part of the shell of the original structure was incorporated into the new building. The Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of the reconstructed bank at £40 in 1925. No. 3 Shore Street was depicted along its current layout on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1932). Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the Northern Bank was increased in value to £72. The Northern Banking Co. purchased the lease for the building outright in 1967 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the value of the building had been raised to £74.

In 1970 the Northern Banking Co. was amalgamated with the Belfast Banking Co. to form Northern Bank Ltd. The UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim (1972) described the Northern Bank in the following terms: ‘A very strange building indeed … the building is generally of blue-painted stucco, with cream details including glazing in the style of the 1850s; but beneath uncommonly wide eaves there is a strange chocolate-cake-filling layer of brick and tile work, incorporating the name of the Bank and large ornamental red-tile beauty-spots .. the railings appear to belong to the earlier house, and are very pleasant’ (UAHS p. 32). The Northern Bank was included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975, only the second conservation area in the province to have been designated at that time, ‘testimony itself to the special qualities of the village.’ In that year the village was also chosen as one of Northern Ireland’s four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 3 Shore Street was listed in 1976 at which time the Northern Bank had vacated the building.

The former bank was subsequently converted into a private dwelling and commercial premises. The NIEA HB Records note that the building underwent renovation c. 2011 which included the reconstruction of its chimney stacks (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
4. PRONI OS/8/84/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/1/40B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/7A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/12A– Annual Revisions (1923-29)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
12. Irish Builder (5 Dec 1914)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/02/028 (1971)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/028

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings and areas of architectural importance in the Glens of Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Dallat, C., ‘The road to the Glens’ Belfast: The Friar’s Bush Press, 1989.
3. ‘Cushendall Village Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1975.
4. ‘Cushendall Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1993 – includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1932.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached three-bay two-storey over-basement rendered former Northern Bank. Built c.1925, replacing (and possibly incorporating part of) a pre 1859 building on the site - also a bank - destroyed by fire in 1922. Located on the southeast side of Shore Street behind walls with cast iron gates and railings, it is situated to the north west of Turnly’s Tower (HB05/02/001). A substantial building, it stands out among the earlier terraced houses on the street. Displaying subtle architectural motifs of the early twentieth-century such as the decorative red brick frieze below the eaves, this former bank remains the only example of this period in the centre of the village and despite some replacement windows, much original historic fabric remains. As a former bank building it would have contributed to the social and economic aspects of the village and it is of local interest.